Bloodlust
by Roses in December
Summary: I got up, while still keeping a firm hold on his arm. He thrashed around but couldn't get free. As I pulled the human up with me, his hat fell off, revealing his face. "He's a girl!"
1. An Unjust Peace

**I haven't been able to write a story in a while because I've been really busy with school and a lot of other stuff. I've been working on this one for a while though so I hope you like it! Please review and tell me what you think, positive or negative.**

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__Chapter One

_"An unjust peace is better than a just war."_

_- Marcus Tullius Cicero_

"The humans are back. Bryce was patrolling earlier and he said he saw them - a bunch of them - heading our way." My head snapped up and my eyes narrowed as Andrew, my second-in-command, came skidding to a stop in front of me. I stood up quickly, pushing the chair at the same time so it skidded backwards and tipped over. I ignored it, moving out from behind my desk.

"What are they playing at?" I muttered, my thoughts dark as I slipped past Andrew into the hallway. I stalked down the hallway and into the lounge, where a couple dozen vampires were relaxing, talking to each other, and messing around. "Get up," I said as they stared at me in confusion. "Break's over." I left Andrew to explain and swept out of the building. I scanned the forest. I couldn't see anybody but I knew they were in there, waiting for the right moment to attack.

I knew exactly what their game was. They would wait in the forest in hopes that we would come in after them, and then they would used their expertise at hiding and setting traps to attack us. Well, that wasn't going to happen. If they wanted a fight, they would have to come to us. I could play their little game, too. I sat down cross-legged, leaning against the building, and relaxed my muscles one at a time like I had been trained to do. I might be here for a while; humans tended to be pretty stubborn.

"Jace? What do you want us to do?" Andrew appeared on the porch with the other vampires behind him, looking confused. He must have been surprised to see me sitting there so calmly, as if we were in the middle of a period of peace rather than one of war.

"Nothing." I didn't have to look up to see the shocked expression on his face.

"Um...what?"

"The humans want us to go in there so they can have the advantage. We're going to wait here and make them come to us. They're fired up and ready for blood; it won't be long now." I closed my eyes, feeling the late summer breeze teasing my skin. After a few seconds passed and I said nothing more, I heard Andrew turn around and go back inside. I could feel the disappointment rolling off him in waves, but I didn't get up to go explain. He would understand later.

I opened my eyes again, staring out at the woods spread out in front of me. _Come out, come out, wherever you are_, I thought ominously. I knew the humans would come eventually; they were too impatient to wait for long. The only question was when.

About half a hour later, I heard rustling in the woods. Then the first wave of humans appeared, racing towards me. I watched lazily as they drew nearer. "What the hell are you doing?" Andrew yelled, leaping past me to meet the first few humans. I watched as he dispatched the first two humans, then turned on the next ones. Out poured all the rest of the vampires.

At first it looked like the battle would be a pathetic defeat for the humans, but then the second wave appeared. Finally I yawned, stretched, and launched myself into battle.

I barely had to exert any energy. A couple of the humans knew what they were doing, but the majority were soft and ill-trained, as if the hardest thing they had ever done was lift a bag of flour. Honestly, that was probably not far from the truth. Humans had always been used as servants - they simply weren't suited for fighting.

As I snapped the neck of one human, I spun savagely to face the next one. Then I paused, confused. There were no more humans in the clearing, just vampires. Bodies were strewn all around the clearing, and it took a second for me to figure out that we had killed all of the humans. Or almost all of them. I saw a couple humans disappearing into the woods. I set off after them; I enjoyed a good chase every once in a while.

The wind lifted my spirits and I increased my pace to a brisk jog. I knew I could easily catch up to the humans when I wanted to, but for now I was humoring them. The humans split up, and I followed the one that ran to the left.

I had to admit, the human was fast. He was always just ahead of me as he led me on a wild chase through the woods. Finally I decided to quit humoring him and just end this already. I put on a burst of speed just as the human stopped; for what, I didn't know. I was completely unprepared for what happened next. As I drew closer, I realized the human had picked up a fallen tree branch. Before I could slow down or stop myself, he took a swing at my head. The branch connected with a loud _CRACK,_and I paused, dazed. Good thing vampires had thick skulls.

I was a little more cautious in my next approach. I constantly kept my eyes open for any openings or opportunities, but the human was good about keeping himself well-defended. He didn't strike me as the fighting type, though. He was small, lithe, with a large hat covering his hair and casting his face into shadows. I could see bright, cornflower-blue eyes watching me warily from beneath the brim.

The human brandished his stick in front of him and I decided to test him a bit more. I feinted to the right, then at the last second shot to the left. He stayed with me the whole time.

I paused, thinking about how to approach this. Sure I could take the human, but I might not escape completely unscathed. Suddenly Andrew appeared behind me, breathing hard as if he had just sprinted all the way here.

"All of the humans are dead," he panted. I hadn't taken my eyes off of the human, and I saw pain flash briefly across his eyes. Then it was gone, replaced by sheer determination. "Do you need help?" Andrew's lips curled up in amusement.

"No," I snarled. Andrew ignored me and moved around to flank me. I felt a brief flash of annoyance but then pushed it aside. I would deal with him later. We approached as one, I from the left and he from the right. The human brandished the stick first at me, then at Andrew, obviously unsure of who would be better to attack first. On my unspoken command, we both leapt at him. He managed to get in a good blow to my shoulder but then the branch was knocked from his hands and he was down. I pinned the human down with my body weight. He struggled, but we both knew I had at least fifty pounds of muscle on him. I was the stronger of both of us.

"Are we going to kill him now?"

"No." I made a split-second decision. "I want to keep him around for a while. He's the only remaining human; maybe he can be of some help to us before we dispose of him." I got up, while still keeping a firm hold on his arm. He thrashed around but couldn't get free. As I pulled the human up with me, his hat fell off, revealing his face.

"He's a girl!" There was a look of astonishment on Andrew's face. The human in front of me was indeed a girl. When the hat fell off, her hair, which had been bunched up underneath it, came tumbling down her back in dark blonde waves. The bright blue eyes I had seen earlier underneath the hat glared defiantly at me, set in the middle of her pale features. Her face was not unscathed, though; she had a days-old bruise on her right cheekbone and there were deep hollows under her eyes from lack of sleep. A small trickle of blood was making its way down from her lip, where it had probably gotten smashed against the ground in our scuffle.

"What's a girl like you doing fighting vampires like me?" I asked roughly. "Are they so desperate for people that they started sending out their women and children to fight?" I grabbed her chin and pulled it upwards so that she was forced to look at me. She didn't answer, only cast her eyes downward, refusing to look at me.

"We can question her back in headquarters. She's the only one of her friends left alive, after all." Andrew smirked, and I began pulling the girl backwards out of the clearing. She struggled all the way back to the building, and managed to pull free once. I grabbed her arm in an iron hold and Andrew took the other, and we continued through the forest. When we were almost back she let her body go limp, falling towards the ground. Instead of letting go of her like she probably hoped we would, we just dragged her all the way back. Her toes scored trenches in the earth as she struggled to find her feet again.

"You got one?" Bryce, one of the younger but higher-ranking vampires, was standing on the front porch. He stared as we drew closer with the girl between us. "Did she do that to you?" I could hear the laughter in his voice, and I could only imagine what the side of my face that had gotten whacked with the branch looked like right now. The bruise would probably be gone in the morning, though.

"Open the door," I ordered, ignoring his question. He hurried to pull the door open, then stood aside as Andrew and I pulled the girl inside. Bryce closed the door with a loud slam behind us.

"Who is that?" Vampires were beginning to gather in the front entryway, and it was starting to get a bit crowded. I saw the girl flinch away as a vampire got a little too close to her.

We weaved through the crowd, Andrew and I still with firm grips on her arms. We didn't trust her one little bit. Finally we reached the "interrogation rooms" as we called them (they actually weren't more than empty rooms with two chairs and a table) and I unlocked one of the doors while Andrew held onto the human. We pushed her inside, then followed her in there.

She moved behind the table, keeping it between us. Her eyes watched us warily, wondering what we were going to do next. "Sit," I said, pointing at a chair. She shot me a look of disgust, as if to say "Yeah, right". "You can either do it yourself or we can make you." I dangled a pair of handcuffs I had picked up earlier. Her face registered shock, and then she slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs. "That's better." I slid down into the other one. "You can wait outside. I'll be fine." Andrew hesitated, then left the room.

"What's your name?" I decided to start with the easiest question. She glanced quickly at me, then away. "They only get harder from here," I warned. She still didn't answer. "I know some methods of forcing you to talk." I watched her face intently, but besides a tightening of the eyes, it remained neutral. "Very well." I sighed, then before she could react I pulled her hands behind the back of the chair and cuffed them there. I stood over her, making sure to seem as menacing and imposing as I could. She couldn't move away from me.

"Wh - what do you want?" Her voice cracked.

"I already told you what I wanted." Her lips pressed into a tight line and she looked away from me. "Are you thirsty?" I changed approaches, hoping to catch her off guard.

"No," she said in a guarded voice, but her eyes told me differently.

I moved away from her and over to the door. "Get me a glass of water." I opened the door and spoke to Andrew, then closed it again. I stood facing the girl, watching her as she grew uncomfortable under my gaze. Then Andrew returned with the water and I set it on the table in front of her. "You can have some water if you tell me your name. That's not too much to ask, is it?" She glanced at me, then away. Her mouth stubbornly stayed closed. "Very well. I'll come back tomorrow after you've had some time to think." I picked up the glass of water and made as if to leave the room.

"Wait." I paused and turned around to look at her. She looked disgusted at herself as the next sentence came tumbling out. "My name is Aly."

"See, now that wasn't too hard," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Here you go." I slid the glass towards her.

"Um..." Aly glanced pointedly behind her at the handcuffs binding her hands. I produced the key out of my pocket and unlocked the handcuffs, then swiftly caught them before they hit the ground. She massaged her wrists before reaching for the glass of water, and then downed it in less than ten seconds. She glanced warily at me and I saw her eyes flash towards the door.

"Don't even think about it," I said warningly, moving directly between her and the door.

"Thank you for all of your _hospitality_," she put all the venom she could into that one word, "but I really should be going now." She tried to step around me but I stepped with her.

"Not so fast." I propelled her backwards into the chair, which she fell onto with an ungracious thump. She sprang immediately back up, but I was quicker than her. "You can remain sitting or I would be happy to put these back on," I said pleasantly, holding up the handcuffs. She glared at me, folding her arms unhappily across her chest as she sat slowly back down. "We're not done with the questioning yet."

"Fine. Why didn't you kill me with everyone else?" There was raw pain and emotion in her voice as she asked that.

"Would you rather I killed you now?" I was toying with her; there was no way I would consider harming a hair on her head until we got everything we needed out of her. "Besides, I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the questioning."

"Too bad," she snapped, and I felt my lips twitch upwards involuntarily.

"You're very insolent. As far as I remember, you're my prisoner, not the other way around. You don't know the half of what I could do to you right now," I said darkly. Aly shuddered slightly.

"You're insufferable," she said after a few seconds of welcome silence.

"We're getting nowhere with this. I'll come back later after you've calmed down a bit."

"Don't bother!" She called after me as the door shut with a clang.

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**I hope you liked this first chapter, sorry it was kind of short. The rest of the story will be from Aly's point of view (take or give a couple chapters).**


	2. Radioactive

**Here's my first (new) chapter. I'm SO sorry it's taken me forever to get this up, I've been really busy with school and life. Thank you to everyone who kept reading!**

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_I raise my flags, don my clothes_

_It's a revolution I suppose_

_We're painted red to fit right in_

_- Imagine Dragons_

I curled up on the floor, shivering. Cold stone floors were normally not very comfortable to sit on, let alone sleep on, and this one certainly was no different. There were no windows in my prison, so I couldn't tell when it was morning. What seemed like a few minutes after I finally managed to doze off, the door opened and I heard footsteps.

My eyes flew open and I watched warily as three vampires stepped into the room, closing the door behind them. I didn't remember seeing any of them the day before. I pushed myself into a sitting position, feeling the familiar dizziness that signaled that my body was hungry. No, hungry was the wrong word. I was completely famished. I hadn't eaten for two days. Sure enough my stomach growled, betraying me.

"You hungry?" One of the vampires smirked at me and I glared back.

"No."

"Seems like you are." Out of nowhere he produced a bag, from which he pulled out different foods. Against my will, I could feel my mouth watering. "Here." He held out a sandwich. I hesitated, then reached for it. At the last second he pulled the sandwich just out of reach. "I'll give you this, and everything else in the bag, if you answer one little question." Instantly I was on my guard. "Where are the humans hiding out."

I kept my mouth clamped shut, thinking sadly of how delicious the sandwich would have tasted. I would never know, because I didn't plan on playing along with their little game.

The vampire's eyes sparked with annoyance. "Let's change up the rules of the game a bit. Either you tell me where they are, or we'll kill you right here and now." I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, but something told me he wasn't. He would have a hard time getting anything out of me; I was fully prepared to meet my death long before I betrayed my friends. When it became apparent that I wasn't going to talk, the vampire grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet. My head spun and I almost fell; it was only his steel grip on my arm that held me up.

One of the vampires guarding the door stepped forward and handed the vampire holding me a knife. A long, very sharp knife. I gulped. "We'll try this again. Where are the humans hiding out?" I kept my mouth stubbornly shut. The humans he was referring to made up the largest group of rebel humans still left out in the wilderness. If the vampires could find them and wipe them out, the war would be basically over. I couldn't let that happen. My life was nowhere near worth all the lives of those noble humans who lived to fight against the tyranny that had taken over our world. "Very well," the vampire sighed.

The next minute I felt sheer pain in my arm. The vampire dragged the knife tip slowly down my arm, cutting just deep enough to draw blood. I struggled and almost broke out of his grasp but the other two vampires swept forward and each grabbed an arm, pinning me in between them. I squirmed and twisted but couldn't get away from both of them. Meanwhile the knife continued its slow, agonizing journey down my arm. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore the vampire stopped.

"Would you like to try again?" I had slumped down between the two vampires, but struggled to find my feet again. I glared defiantly at him. The vampire's gaze darkened, and he raised the knife again. This time he sliced through my shirt, leaving me shivering and topless before him. Then, very gently, he brought the knife down at the base of my throat, between both of my collarbones. I shivered, knowing what was coming next. And come it did.

I couldn't stop the scream that burst out of my body as he cut into my chest, drawing a line down towards my stomach. I panicked and began fighting with all the strength I had, but it wasn't enough. I let out another scream as the knife bit into the soft, fleshy part of my stomach. Blood began gushing out.

"Damn." One of the vampires holding me recoiled a bit. "This wasn't in the plan," he growled towards the vampire with the knife.

"Shut up," the other vampire hissed, brandishing his knife at him. I wobbled and sagged towards the ground, the vampires on either side of me the only ones that kept me from hitting the floor. It was sheer agony as I hung there, suspended halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness, wanting desperately to die so that all of this pain would go away.

I barely even noticed when the vampires let go of me and made a mad dash for the doorway. I slumped to the ground onto my side, staring blankly at nothing. If this was the end, well, I welcomed it with open arms.

The door opened again and I flinched, thinking it was that vampire coming back to finish me off. I was already pretty much there, so there wasn't a lot more that he could do. Instead, I heard a horrified gasp. My vision swam as I tried to look up, but I could just make out four or five forms standing in the doorway in front of me.

"Aly, can you hear me?" One of them knelt down in front of me. I tried to make my head nod, my mouth move, anything, but my body wasn't cooperating. It was shutting down on me. Everything was so cold, made even worse by the fact that I was no longer wearing a shirt. I tried to tell them to turn the heat up or something, but I don't think they could tell what I was saying. Just before I lost consciousness, I felt myself being swung up into someone's arms, the wind swooshing past my face like we were moving quickly. Then I was gone.

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I drifted in and out of consciousness. I wasn't sure how long I had been suspended in this middle stage. I hoped that death was coming to claim me, just to get me out of this pain I was in. I had no reassurances though.

Finally my eyes blinked open. Everything was white. _Am__ I dead_? I wondered. I sincerely hoped it was, since that meant I was free of the world and its cruelties forever. I realized I was lying on something, and I managed to do a bit of maneuvering to realize I was laying on a bed. Then I glanced over and saw the IV in my uninjured arm, and my spirits sunk. I wouldn't have needed an IV, had I been dead. My wishes hadn't come true; I was still stuck in this hellhole.

I realized something else at the same time; there were no vampires present in the room with me. This was the perfect opportunity for an escape. As I sat up slowly, I soon realized how impossible this was. Sharp pain shot through my stomach and I winced as I lowered myself back onto the pillows. I lifted up the thin blanket covering me and pulled my shirt up away from my stomach to reveal a long, jagged line across my abdomen, criss-crossed by small, dark stitches.

"You're awake." I hadn't noticed the door open. I watched warily as a vampire I'd never seen before closed the door softly behind him. He looked older than the majority of the vampires I'd seen, but he still didn't look old in a human sense. Maybe middle-aged would be a better way to describe him. His dark hair had streaks of gray running through it, and his blue-gray eyes looked warm and friendly. It didn't make me any less distrustful.

"Wh - who are you?" I croaked out. I hadn't realized my mouth was so dry, and without a word he handed me a glass of water. I examined it suspiciously, then gulped it down.

"I'm Dr. Clayton. You can just call me Eric." There was no way I'd be calling him anything besides bloodsucking leech. "Looks like your vitals are fine. We just have to monitor your wounds and make sure they heal properly - "

"Why did you save me? Why not just let me die?" I asked blankly. The vampire paused, taken aback by my question.

"Maybe Jace would be better suited to answer your questions." He spoke hesitantly. I closed my eyes and said no more, and after a few long seconds he finally left, shutting the door softly behind him.

As it happened, I wasn't able to ask Jace because I didn't see him in the next few days. It wasn't until almost a week later that I finally caught a glimpse of him. Or rather, heard his voice. The leech doctor was talking to somebody, and at first I couldn't tell who it was. Then I heard the familiar voice, raised above all of the others. A second later Jace stormed into the room. I flinched as he sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Eric said you had some questions for me," he said sourly.

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to let me die?" I launched right into my questions.

"We need you for questioning."

"Yeah, well, you won't be getting anything out of me," I snapped. I half expected him to raise his hand against me, and I flinched back, but he did nothing.

"You're going to have a scar there." He gestured towards my stomach. "Your arm wasn't cut as deeply, so it'll heal completely - " he was cut off by my sarcastic laugh.

"Do you honestly think I care about how I'll look with a little scar on my stomach?" I asked bitterly. I lived in a time of war, and I had long ago accepted that I would never live a normal life. I most likely would never get married, and kids were completely out of the question. There was no way I was bringing new life into this world just so that it could be harnessed and used by the vampires like everything else. It just wouldn't be fair to them.

Two days later I got the okay from the doctor, and it was back to my prison I went. The vampires had orders to take it easy on me for a while, at least until I was fully healed, but somehow I didn't think they were the type to follow directions. I was right.

"Tell us what we need to know." There was a new vampire interrogating me today, but like all the others, he hadn't gotten anything out of me. I sat stubbornly back in the chair, my arms folded across my chest. The vampire circled around me, and I could tell he was getting increasingly agitated. I kept my mouth shut. Without warning, his fist flew at me, hitting me square in the jaw and sending the chair flying backwards. I fell back with the chair and my head hit the ground with a loud crack. Dazed, I was powerless to do anything as the vampire grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet.

I wobbled unsteadily as my head cleared, then launched myself at the vampire. He wasn't expecting me to attack, and I caught him off guard. We fell backwards, me not letting go. The vampire hit the ground and I fell on top of him, knocking the air out of him. Before he could react, I grabbed his head and slammed it against the ground, and then again. I was so caught up in my revenge that I didn't notice the door open behind me. Vampires flooded in and somebody lifted me off of the now-motionless vampire lying beneath me. I fought like a crazy person, and it took three vampires to restrain me and pin me to the ground.

Jace appeared in the doorway, his face stony. He was holding a huge needle in his hand, and I gulped as he moved towards me. I began fighting even harder, knowing I had to get free before he could inject any of whatever was in the needle into me. I almost broke free, but then two more vampires came to help. Two held my legs down, two held my arms, and the last laid across my stomach, preventing me from bucking them off.

The needle flashed in the light, and then Jace's arm swung down. The silvery tip embedded itself in my arm. I struggled, but could feel my body getting weaker and weaker. It took a lot of effort to even keep my eyelids open, and finally I gave in and let them close.

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**I know this is a kind of short chapter, but I really wanted to get another one posted. Please read and tell me what you think of it!**


	3. Echo

**Next chapter:**

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_I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name_

_Like a fool at the top of my lungs_

_Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright_

_But it's never enough_

_- Jason Walker_

When I woke up, I had no idea where I was. This was getting to be a regular occurrence for me. I tried to sit up and look around, but my body wouldn't move. Looking down, I discovered why: silver chains wrapped around my legs, arms, and chest, pinning me to the narrow table I was laying on. I panicked, thrashing around in the hopes of getting free, but I only succeeded in exhausting myself. I was panting when the door opened and Jace stepped in, followed by two other vampires.

"I'm done playing around," Jace growled, stepping towards me. "You will tell me what we need to know right now, or I will kill you on the spot." Looking into his eyes, I knew he wasn't joking. There was no mercy or humanity left in them; they were as dark as night.

"Go ahead and kill me," I said bravely. I felt the blood drain from my face, and I hoped that he couldn't hear how fast my heart was beating in my chest. I didn't want to die by any means, but I would give up my life in an instant if it meant saving my friends and family that were still out there battling the vampires. Many lives had been lost in this long war; one more wouldn't make much of a difference.

"If you insist." He bared his fangs and stepped forward. I struggled even harder, but the chains held me firmly in place without giving an inch. Jace grabbed my head and tilted it roughly to the side, baring my neck. He leaned in, and I watched in slow motion as his mouth drew closer and closer to me...

"Jace!" Another vampire burst into the room.

"What?" Jace spun around, his eyes narrowed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, though.

"The humans are attacking again!"

"This soon? How have they had the time - or the numbers - to regroup?" I could tell Jace was furious. "Stupid humans," he muttered under his breath, pacing quickly back and forth. "Sound the alarm and get everyone to the front. This time we're finishing things once and for all. We will take no prisoners; kill them all." I felt my breath hitch, but none of the vampires spared me a second glance. A second later they were all gone from the room, leaving me alone.

I tried to crane my neck but I literally couldn't move any part of my body. Annoyed, I relaxed my body and waited for somebody to come back in and free me. Hopefully somebody human.

* * *

**Jace's POV:**

I couldn't believe the humans were stupid enough to try another attack less than two weeks after their first. No, stupid was the wrong word. "Completely idiotic" and "suicidal" were more accurate. This time I wouldn't leave any humans alive; I wanted to send a message to the rebellion that we were no longer messing around. They weren't successful in killing a significant number of vampires, but they were definitely getting on my nerves and it was time to put an end to this once and for all.

As I launched myself out the front door, the battle was already raging. I grabbed the nearest human and snapped his neck before moving on to the next. Unlike the last battle, I wasn't taking my time. I meant business.

I spun, grabbing two humans and smashing their heads together. They fell to the ground, unmoving, and I bared my fangs as I set upon the next human. He was a smaller human, and as I advanced on him he turned and ran. Not towards the woods, as I would have expected him to, but towards the house. As I watched, he pulled a flask of something out of his pocket and threw it over the front door and porch of the house. Then he pulled out a lighter and flicked it open. I watched in slow motion as he lit the fluid, which now I realized was some type of flammable liquid. The house went up in flames.

At first I turned away from the house; all of the vampires were outside and none were immediately in harm's way. Then a thought struck me and I turned and raced towards the house.

* * *

**Aly's POV:**

I lay there, frustrated and exhausted after having tried yet again to escape the thick chains binding me. I could only hope the humans won the battle and came in here to free me soon. I could feel my arms and legs growing numb from disuse.

A smell caught my nose and I inhaled deeply. It smelled a bit like...smoke! I panicked as I saw the thick smoke beginning to seep in from underneath the door. Where there was smoke, there was fire. I struggled harder than I had previously, fueled by the thought that if I didn't manage to get free, I would die. The chains held. I stilled my body and slowed my breathing, knowing that the slower I breathed, the less smoke I would inhale. Smoke inhalation killed more people than the actual fire, and I had to conserve my energy in order to figure out a way to escape.

I tested the chains to see if my struggling had weakened any of the links. There were none. I let out a scream of frustration. I didn't want to die this way, helpless and unable to fight back.

The smoke continued rolling into the room. Already the room was getting darker, and I coughed as the first bit of smoke entered my lungs. I couldn't help it; the room was so thick with smoke that every time I took a breath I breathed in smoke. My eyes watered as I let out a series of hacking coughs. I wanted to cry; freedom was so close, yet so far.

It wasn't long before my vision started clouding. I shook my head furiously to clear my vision, refusing to let my eyes close. If I fainted now, I would never wake up. I kept testing the chains; I wasn't going down without a fight. I could feel my grip on reality fading, and my body felt weak. I could barely muster the energy to continue. Before I knew it my body went slack and my eyes fluttered closed.

_Aly. Aly!_ _ALY! _The voice grew more insistent. Annoyed at being woken up, I growled something unintelligible at them. "Aly!" My eyes flew open and I flinched as smoke flooded into my eyes and mouth. The room was as dark as if it was nighttime, but I could just make out a darker shape. The figure easily snapped the chains surrounding my body and held out a hand. I stared at it, my brain functioning too slowly to figure out what they wanted.

The figure gave an impatient sigh and grabbed ahold of my hand, pulling me to my feet. I felt groggy and clutched the person's arm for support as they led me out of the room.

As soon as we left the room, we ran into a problem. A huge wall of fire was blocking our path. The figure cursed, then spun me in the opposite direction. Caught off balance, I wobbled and almost fell. Immediately there were hands keeping me upright and hurrying me in the other direction. I glanced slowly up at the figure's face. "Jace?" He looked down at me, then back up, his attention focused elsewhere.

My legs felt like rubber; I must have breathed in even more smoke than I thought. Jace slipped his arm around my waist as I stumbled, holding me upright. "Hurry," he urged, pulling us down a long hallway ringed with flames. Without warning we took a sharp left into a room. The room was full of smoke, but I could just make out a window at the far end. Jace pulled me towards this window and I heard a loud shattering sound as he punched through the window. I barely noticed as shards of glass embedded themselves in my skin, drawing blood.

I became aware of a low rumbling noise behind me. Jace glanced backwards and his eyes widened. "On the count of three, we jump." My brain was too fuzzy to protest. "One...two...three!" He launched himself through the window, pulling me with him. I was suspended in midair for a few seconds before gravity took over and pulled me towards the ground. Two things happened simultaneously. The first was that the house exploded behind us and the second was that I hit the ground - hard.

There was a loud crack as my leg folded beneath me, and I heard a high-pitched scream. It took me a second to realize that the scream was coming from me. My vision wavered as several vampires surrounded Jace and I. I tried to lift my head to warn them not to get too close to the house, but that small motion took everything out of me. The side of my head slammed into the ground and everything went black.

* * *

**Jace's POV:**

My eyes narrowed as I took in the burned out shell that had formerly been our headquarters. As soon as the one human had lit the house on fire, the rest of them had all taken off running into the forest. Most of them had been caught, but a few had gotten away. That meant they were free to spread their triumph to the rest of the humans. Nothing good would come of this, I was sure of it. I would deal with the remaining humans later.

Off to my left, Eric was treating patients inside a makeshift medical tent. None of the vampires had been seriously injured, but a few had gotten burned from the explosion. It wasn't anything they wouldn't recover from. They weren't the ones I was worried about, anyways. I made my way over to the tent and poked my head inside.

"Hey Doc. Need anything?" Eric was busy sorting through his remaining supplies; all he had time to grab before the house went up in flames was his small doctor's bag. Everything else had gone up in flames, so we had to make do with what we had.

"Nothing that you can get me." He gave a frustrated sigh and sat back on his heels.

"How is she?"

"See for yourself." Eric gestured towards the back of the tent, where a hanging sheet partitioned off a smaller room. Cautiously I approached, scared of what I might see. I moved the sheet gently aside and stepped past it, letting it swing back into place behind me.

Aly lay before me on top of a collapsible cot, piled high with blankets. Her face was pale and drawn, and she looked extremely small and breakable. There was a nasty-looking bruise on the side of her forehead from where she had fallen and hit her head on the ground. The blankets covered everything else, but I knew just how battered her body looked. I was the one had carried her to Eric, after all. Aly didn't stir, and after a few long seconds, I went back into the main part of the tent.

"No change."

"I didn't expect you'd see any. She hit her head pretty hard; she might be out for a while."

"Do you think we should post guards or anything just in case she wakes up?"

Eric shot me an exasperated look. "Jace, it's doubtful she'll be waking up for a while. And do you really think she'd get far on a broken leg?"

"I guess not." I shook my head, feeling like a child again.

"That's right." Eric spoke patiently. "Now why don't you go find Andrew. I heard he was looking for you." I knew Andrew wasn't looking for me; I'd spoken to him right before I came to see Eric. I took the hint, though, and left.

"Just send someone to find me if you need anything," I called over my shoulder as I exited the tent. I heard Eric's good-natured laugh as I let the tent flap swing closed behind me.

"Hey boss. What's the plan?" Alex, one of the newer additions to the group, fell into step next to me.

I was at a loss; I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. Quickly ideas began falling into place. "We're going to head north to the Stronghold. We can tell the others what happened and think of a plan to crush this rebellion once and for all." I caught Andrew's arm as he rushed by. "Take care of the humans. We're leaving soon."

Over to my right, huddled in a group and surrounded by guards, were the ten humans we'd caught. They sat together and looked completely defeated. As I watched, Andrew spoke to the vampires guarding them. The humans were hauled to their feet and led off into the forest. I looked away, knowing they would never be coming back.

Ten minutes later we were completely packed up and ready to go. Vampires could move fast, and we certainly were no exception. "Jace!" I spun to see Eric hurrying towards me. "What do I do with her?" He gestured backwards towards Aly, who was still lying in the bed underneath all the blankets. The tent had been taken down around her but nobody had moved her.

"Leave the bed and put her in the wagon." I made a split-second decision. We had managed to save one of our wagons to carry supplies, but it work for transporting her. It would mean moving some stuff around to fit her, but it shouldn't be anything unmanageable.

As usual, I was wrong.

"Why are we bringing _her_?" My ears perked up at the sound of raised voices. I turned to see Eric arguing with two vampires next to the wagon. I hurried over to stand next to Eric. He shot me a glance that was half-annoyed, half-relieved to see me.

"Because I said so," I snapped. The vampire who was complaining, Adrian, shot me a distasteful look before turning around and heading off to the other side of the wagon. The other vampire shot me an apologetic look before following Adrian. "Here, help me." Together Eric and I lifted Aly into the wagon, settling her on the ground and tucking blankets around her body to make sure it didn't roll around. Then I sounded the signal and we were off. Next stop, war.

* * *

**I'm trying to get a couple more chapters out before this weekend. Hope you enjoyed this one! Please review and let me know what you think!**


	4. AN

**ATTENTION MY LOVELY READERS: I am in need of a beta reader for my story! Unfortunately I've been going through some major writer's block lately, and I apologize for not being able to update my story. I'm just kind of stuck. If you have any interest in reading/editing what I've written so far, feel free to message me!**


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